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Research within a phenomenological framework is aimed at understanding the lived experience of participants to capture the essences of their combined stories to provide new insights and truths surrounding a particular phenomenon. Essential to this process is the acquiring of data representative of the experience being researched. The art of unstructured interviews is to acknowledge and value participants’ stories as each participant traverses deeply personal experiences with the interviewer. This article examines the impact of factors that influence the successful interviewing of peers and explores how ignoring the foundational elements of “who, where, and how” may result in lean or even skewed data. Aimed at accessing the essence of a phenomenon through conversational interviews, the authors offer an adaptable framework that considers the additional elements of “space, language, role, and trust” which is aligned with the intent of phenomenological studies.

a b s t r a c tPuppets have been used for play and in education with children in a variety of contexts, including health care. There is however a dearth of literature that explains nurses' experiences when using puppets in a paediatric health care context nor any process to guide how they use puppets. In 2007 an educational framework called the Pup-Ed (KRS Simulation) was developed to assist nurses and educators in using puppets. In 2012 nurses (n = 13) from a regional paediatric acute care setting, who had been educated in the Pup-Ed (KRS Simulation) framework, described their experiences using puppets when caring for sick children. Participants reported that the principles of the Pup-Ed (KRS Simulation) framework including the users' knowledge/hidden nurse, a consistent history and silent voice all contributed to the central theme called connecting to optimise care. The puppets were a means to educate the children and were a source of distraction from unpleasant procedures. Additionally the puppets were a strategy to reduce fear and break down barriers for the child especially when undergoing procedures. When using the puppets participants identified that infection transfer was something to be considered and not all nurses felt comfortable using the puppets. A lack of confidence and time were identified as barriers to using the puppets. The findings from this study have been valuable in establishing recommendations for future puppet use.

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The incidence of chronic illness is growing globally. As a result, there are fiscal and social implications for health delivery. Alongside the increased burden on health resources is the expectation that someone within the family will assume the responsibility of carer for those who are chronically ill. The expectation to assume the role of carer may be amplified for family members who are also nurses. Currently, there is little research that investigates the impact of nurses who are carers for family with a chronic illness. Consequently, this qualitative study, based on face-to-face and telephone dialogue, was conducted using unstructured interviews. A phenomenologicalhermeneutic approach utilizing the hermeneutic circle was employed to understand the meaning of the transcriptions. Hermeneutic phenomenology inspired by Heideggerian philosophy was used as a framework to clarify themes and build ways of understanding the phenomenon of 'Being' a nurse and a family carer. Themes identified in the analysis of the study included a personal world, a professional world and a practical world. This paper explicates the findings from examination of the personal world of 'Being' a nurse who is also a family carer. Analysis revealed there were three facets to this way of 'Being': a shared experience, a caring experience and a fraught experience. The findings of the study disclosed that participants were informed by experiences that were both enriching and conflicting. These insights can enlighten healthcare professionals to the tensions which exist for nurses who care for family so that these considerations are incorporated into individualized and effective familycentred care. K E Y W O R D Scarers, chronic illness, Heidegger, Hermeneutics, phenomenology